Khaki Swing
by ginchy-amanda
Summary: My take on Chandler and Monica’s date–when they saw “The Swing Kings”.


_Okay, here's a new story I've been working on for awhile. I started to formulate it in my head after re-watching TOW The Cheap Wedding Dress. I began to wonder when, exactly, Monica and Chandler had the date where they danced to the Swing Kings. I figured since Chandler said he really thought about going to a swing-dance club once he saw the Gap "Khaki Swing" commercial, that the date must have occurred in 1998–the year the ads ran. Plus, I think the date occurred right before Chandler's accidental blurting out of "I love you!" during Thanksgiving of that year. I have nothing to prove this with, but it sounds good in my head. LOL_

_I absolutely must thank my dear friend, Cathy, from Friends-Boards for her help in this story. She really saved the day! I had most of the story written out as separate "scenes" and she went in and added some excellent segues to help the story flow. I couldn't ask for a better collaborator! You're great, babe! I hope to work with her again, soon... :) _

_Onwards to the story!_

Khaki Swing

A group of khaki clad young men and women danced across the screen and Chandler couldn't help but be mesmerized by the music playing in the Gap commercial's background. It was swing music, and though he couldn't identify the song, he could identify the genre. One of the few good memories he had of his father was of listening to swing music with him on rare weekend mornings on the "Olde Time Radio Hour" before he had been allowed to turn on the TV to watch live action super-hero tales.

His Dad would always embarrass him by dancing around the room in time to the music, and calling out, "I'm the Swing-Queen " Chandler often couldn't help but laugh at that and ask, "Don't you mean Swing-King?" His Dad would merely laugh and shake his head. "Son, you're the Swing-King" he would say, and Chandler was still young and naive enough to believe that his Dad was just being silly, and nice, letting him be the king.

It was a happy time for him, a carefree time before awful Thanksgivings and divorce. He turned off the tv when the commercial ended and started pacing around the room. Upon seeing his laptop on the counter, an idea hit him and he sat himself down and started browsing the Internet. Within 5 minutes he had found what he was looking for and walked across the hall.

"Hey," Chandler said, sticking his head into Monica and Rachel's apartment, "is Rachel home?"

Monica looked up from the book she was reading on the couch and smiled, shaking her head. "No, she's down in the laundry room hoping that Danny will magically appear to ask her out again."

Chandler smiled, walking in and closing the door behind him. Monica met him halfway to the couch, kissing him thoroughly, as if they hadn't just made love a few hours before.  
"So, what are you doing tonight?" he asked, grinning in anticipation of her answer.  
"Well...I guess I could do the dishes that Rachel left in the sink...again," she began, a bit angrily, "or, I could do something with my incredibly sexy secret boyfriend." Monica winked at him, leaving no doubt as to what her choice really was.

"Hmmmm..." Chandler mused, rubbing at his chin and staring at her with feigned scrutiny, "that is a tough choice."

Monica laughed and slapped at his butt as she wound her arms around him. "So," she purred to him, "what are we doing tonight? What time should I be ready?"

Chandler couldn't hide the shiver that ran through his body at the sound of her voice, but he played it off, deepening his own and leaning in towards her lips, "Be ready at 8. Wear something swishy."

Monica raised an eyebrow at him. "Swishy?"

Chandler nodded. "Swishy."

"You are a bizarre little man," Monica said, pecking him lightly on the lips before moving out of his embrace to no doubt begin to check her closet for a swishy dress.

Chandler stood in the middle of the room and watched her enter her bedroom. "Little?" he asked, making a face.

Monica's laughter was music to his ears.

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Later that night, he looked at himself one more time in the mirror before starting out of the apartment to pick up his date. He was looking forward to this night, very much actually. It wasn't often that they were actually able to date–more often than not their dates consisted of hanging out in one of their bedrooms, talking, eating, and having sex. Chandler could actually count their number of real dates on one hand; this night being "Real Date Number 5."

After knocking, he walked into apartment 20. He escorted her down the stairs before he turned to sneak a peak at Monica's dress. She looked amazing, of course, in her swishy, blue dress, and her hair was in loose waves that fell down her back. They arrived outside before her curiosity took over and she kept firing questions at him, trying to find out where exactly they were going.

The cab let them out a block from the club, and they walked in the cold November air clutching hands to ward off the cold. Monica's loose curls flew back from her face in the wind. Chandler had made an off-hand comment to her once that he liked it when she curled her hair and he was pleased (and a bit flabbergasted) to see that she had begun to wear her hair in that style more frequently than she ever had before.

They finally reached the club's entrance where a sign sat propped in the window proclaiming that night's musical act as "The Swing Kings".

"Swing?" Monica asked, cocking her head at him as they entered the noisy club. "I didn't know you liked swing music, baby."

Over the din of the crowd and the music, Chandler's heart raised at the sound of her calling him her 'baby'. Over their years of friendship she had called him 'sweetie' and 'honey', but 'baby' was a new endearment. A relationship type endearment. And he liked it.

He didn't answer her question, but instead took her hand, paid their cover charge, and led her to a table.

After a few drinks and a quick "learning by watching" swing lesson, Chandler felt ready to brave the dance floor. Plenty of people were out there making asses of themselves...and Monica seemed to be enjoying everything so Chandler figured he may as well join the masses.

They moved together onto the floor and tried to find the rhythm of the unfamiliar music. They began to move around, and Monica looked to be fairly confident in her movements. Chandler found that the floor was pretty crowded so that it didn't really matter what he did anyway, but he couldn't resist trying a few of the more outrageous dance moves (twirling his hands, kicking his feet) just to test Monica's reaction.

Instead of being embarrassed, however, she just threw her head back and laughed before imitating him, doing her own outrageous movements, causing her dress to fly up as they even executed a perfect swing spin. Chandler grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around, hitting her skirt as it lifted around her.

Monica laughed, "I think that's a little more 'Dirty Dancing' than Swing Dancing, " she yelled over the noise.

Chandler grinned at her, pulling her close to him for a quick kiss before moving her back to continue their dance.

A break came in the music and the audience stopped to clap, listening to the band leader as he introduced the members of his band and explained their upcoming schedule.

"Now," he said, addressing the audience, "how many of you are here because of that Gap commercial that's so popular now?"

Monica looked at Chandler with a knowing smirk as the band struck up another song and they began to dance again. Just as they were beginning to actually feel like they knew what they were doing, an obviously advanced swing dance pair danced by, the man picking the woman up and spinning her mid-air. Chandler grinned evilly at Monica and began to lift her, shushing her protests with swift kiss on the lips. Once she was off the ground, Chandler looked up into her eyes and was hit by an overwhelming emotion that, had he not been in a crowd of people, would have knocked him to his knees.

He gently placed her back on the ground and brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. He saw the sparkles in them and felt a warm glow inside because he knew she was having a good time. He leaned in and kissed her, long and hard, trying to let this new emotion become obvious to her too.

Only one thought was in his mind and he'd realized it with some sort of shock. I'm in love. And as he kept repeating this statement in his mind, his smile started growing. I'm in love. I'm in love.

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That night, Chandler lay in Monica's bed waiting for her to finish her nightly bath ritual. They had taken to staying mainly in her room since Ross had moved in with him and Joey. Thankfully Ross hadn't noticed Chandler's frequent absences, and if this streak of luck held, he never would.

But, man, his streak of luck may soon be over if he didn't learn how to play it cool. He'd nearly blurted out to Monica that he was in love with her–right there on the dance floor of the swing club. And that would have been bad...he was only just sure that Monica actually liked being with him; he wasn't going to risk hoping that she was actually in love with him yet. He still had to impress her more--he had to make her fall in love with him. And he was actually still working on that plan.

So, he just needed to play it cool. Just for a little longer. Then, perhaps, he could tell her that he was flat on his ass in love with her.

"Hey," Monica whispered from the door, dropping her silky robe to reveal a black lace teddy underneath. "what do you think?"

"Uuuughhh..." Chandler gurgled, at a loss for words. Inside he was struggling with his internal monologue of, "Play it cool, man...play it cool..." Monica walked over and he slid to the edge of the bed, placing his hands on her hips. Deciding to go for the tension breaking inappropriate joke he said, "I like this very much." He ran his hands over the lace and asked, "Does it come in my size?"

Monica giggled and moved closer to him. Suddenly, seriousness took over and she kissed him intensely. He softly kissed her neck and looked into her eyes. "You're so beautiful", he whispered softly. But before giving in to the sensations, Chandler again repeated in his mind. "Play it cool, man. Just a while longer. Play it cool..."

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Monica was dancing in his kitchen with a turkey on her head. She was trying to apologize and much to his surprise, she wasn't being all girly about it. She was being...funny. God, he loved her.

And then, it slipped out, "You are so great! I love you!"

So much for playing it cool...

end


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